The Lone Victor
by DrHoneyChuckles
Summary: AU Ending to "The Hunger Games" Katniss has a look of shock on her face. She loses the grip on her bow and it topples down the side of the Cornucopia. A hole opens up in the plain and the mutts bound into it.


_A/N: This is an alternate ending to the Hunger Games. If you have not read the Hunger Games... GO READ IT NOW. Anyways, I wrote this for an English project. We had a couple options and one of them was rewriting the ending of the book so that our character won. (I was the District 4 tribute girl.) I went up to my English teacher and said, "Look. There is NO way I can kill *insert character here*." and she says, "You know this book inside out, upside down, on your head, and in your sleep. I don't care what _you _do." And so this nice little diddy was made._

_Thanks to Spazzymcspazz for being my beta. Thanks to my little brother for reading._

**_Warning!: You will most likely need tissues. Major character death._**

**_I do not own the Hunger Games._**

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><p>We were sitting out by the lake. My spirit was running high. We were one person away from winning the Games. Just one. One more and we could go back to the grimy streets of District 12 that we called home. But this was Cato we were talking about. Cato who was trained all his life for these Games. Cato who killed cruelly, mercilessly, and with a deep ferocity. Honestly, I could have made it through the Games without killing anyone. The girl I supposedly killed under the tree was so far gone already… It was just the luck of timing that got Cato to believe I killed her. My own arrogance had killed the fox faced girl.<p>

And now Katniss and I were waiting. We didn't have to hide now. If Cato found us, so be it. It was two of us against one of him.

That's when we saw him. He burst out of the woods running like his life depended on it. After Katniss fired an arrow, it bounced off his body armor, Cato barreled past, and then we saw the horrible creatures that were on his tail; we realized his life _did _depend on it.

Katniss started sprinting as soon as the muttations were in view. I turned and chased after her. We appeared to be running towards the Cornucopia. Every step I took sent a searing pain up my leg. I hadn't told Katniss before, but the wound was still causing daily pain. The adrenaline pouring through my system helped with the pain, but the mutts were gaining on me fast. My arms pumped hard at my sides and I pushed as hard as I could to get to the Cornucopia.

Katniss turned around, finally realizing I was lagging behind. She pulled her bow and fired an arrow into the mutt closest to me. I felt the arrow whizz dangerously close to my head, but knew Katniss would hit her target. "Go, Katniss, go!" I yell at her. She nods and then begins to climb the golden surface. A few seconds later I lunge for the Cornucopia. Katniss shoots another arrow and I'm able to make it up without being harmed. This is where we found Cato again. He was bent over the edge trying to gain his breath. Katnisss's eyes were on the muttations. Something was bothering her about them. Something was bothering me about them too. The mutts start gathering around and seem to be communicating with one another. One jumps up at us and its claws grate down the side of the Cornucopia. Katniss shrieks. At first I think it must have cut her, but I can see no blood. "Katniss?" I ask and place my hand on her shoulder.

"It's her!" She cries.

"Who?" I ask.

Her eyes are locked on the mutts. She looks at each one before answering. "What is it, Katniss?" I demand and shake her shoulder slightly.

"It's them. It's all of them. The others. Rue and Foxface and… all the other tributes."

I gasp. My mind starts reeling. I take in all of the mutts. Of course it is. I can see them now. "What did they do to them? You don't think…those could be their real eyes?"

A new mutt attack starts. I don't see the mutt until it's too late. That's when I feel the mutt tear at my leg. The pain was horrendous. I could feel its razor sharp claw slice through the muscle and tendons and blood start gushing out of my leg. Katniss's hold was stronger than the mutts and I could feel the warm heat radiating off of the Cornucopia as I hit its surface. The mutt is still tearing at my leg. "Kill it, Peeta! Kill it!" Katniss screams. With one hand gripping Katniss's arm for dear life, I use the other to start stabbing with my knife. I sink the knife up to the hilt in the mutt's eye socket and realize I've just stabbed Rue. I want to vomit as the small mutt releases my leg and falls to the ground. I hiss as Katniss pulls me to my feet and we began to climb up to the lip of the Cornucopia where Cato waits for us.

Katniss is still all to focused on the mutts even though we are out of their range now. I am all too focused on my leg.

This is how Cato surprises us. I feel his arm wrap around my throat and cut off my airways. I see Katniss quickly react and pull the arrow up to shoot. But she realizes that if she shoots Cato, I go down too. Just as I'm thinking this Cato laughs, "Shoot me and he goes down with me." My head is getting fuzzy. Cato's grip around my neck tightens. My lungs are burning and I try to get in a breath, but can't. I can feel my consciousness slipping. With my last sensible thought I reach down to my leg and swipe some blood up. I drag it across Cato's hand and make an 'x'.

Katniss shoots before Cato can react. Cato yells out and releases me, but when he does so he spins. I feel myself free falling. By some miracle I manage to grab the lip of the Cornucopia. I'm hanging there and I can feel the air whistle past my feet as the mutts' jaws snap. I hear the click of their teeth and know it's just a matter of time before one of them gets a hold of my foot and I'm a goner.

This is it. I'm dead. There's no way I'm making it out of this.

"Give up!" Cato shouts. "Lover boy's with the dogs now!"

My throat is tight from Cato cutting off my oxygen and the strain in my arms is killing me. I try to yell for Katniss to let her know I'm here. A pathetic squeak comes out. "Katniss!"

"Peeta!" Katniss yells back.

That's when Cato steps on my fingers. I cry out as I feel his heavy form snap one of my fingers. At the same time I feel a mutt clip my foot and it pulls my boot off. The sky has begun to darken and the cool breeze instantly chills my foot. I start shivering and feel my left hand slip from the lip of the Cornucopia.

"Come on, Everdeen!" Cato taunts. "I can do this all day!"

I want to see what he's doing. But more importantly, I want to see what Katniss is doing. She's probably holding up her bow, ready to set an arrow fly. She's also probably thinking out everything that could go wrong if she lets that arrow fly.

I decide I have to act. Now. With my left hand that had been dangling at my side I manage to reach the lip of the Cornucopia again. I reach a bit farther, pull myself up so my elbow is on the lip (I can see Katniss now), and grip Cato's leg. I yank hard. Cato hadn't been expecting the movement and begins to topple backwards.

I watch the next part in slow motion.

Cato throws his sword forward. It spins in a perfect spiral. Katniss lets an arrow fly at the same time. Neither one was expecting the other's attack. You can see by the look of shock on both of their faces. Cato takes the arrow to the eye socket and the canon fires immediately. My gaze turns to the sword. It makes one more full rotation before burying itself into Katniss' stomach. "KATNISS!" I scream.

Katniss has a look of shock on her face. She loses the grip on her bow and it topples down the side of the Cornucopia. A hole opens up in the plain and the mutts bound into it. I instantly know why. They want me to say goodbye to Katniss.

I swing myself up onto the Cornucopia and manage to get there in time to catch her. I'm crying. I don't know when I started, but I realize it now as I see the droplets hit her face. I have her cradled in my lap. Her head's resting on my shoulder and I'm staring into those gray eyes that I've loved ever since I was five. "Katniss, don't you leave me yet." I demand. "The hovercraft's going to get us in no time. They're going to fix you right up, Katniss."

"The hovercraft's not coming, Peeta." Katniss whispers. A ghost of a smile flickers across her face and she reaches up and cradles the side of my face. She looks peaceful. She looks like she's ready.

"You can't leave me, Katniss!" I yell in desperation. "Not now! Not when we're so close!" The tears won't stop. I want to be strong for her, but I can't. My breathing is somewhere in between a gasp and a hiccup. I've loved this girl for eleven years. The girl who wore the plaid dress and made the birds fall silent. The starving girl I threw the bread to. The girl who volunteered for her sister. The girl on fire. The girl who got an eleven in training. The girl I had risked his life for so many times. And now she was lying here in my arms. Dying.

"Promise me one thing." Katniss whispers.

I can feel the blood from her wound seeping into my clothes, but I don't care. I ignore the weapon completely. "Anything." I choke out. Her hand is still at my face. I reach my hand up and start brushing the hair out of her eyes and stroking her head. My hand is slick with her blood.

"Don't let them starve." Her eyelids flutter close.

"NO!" I scream at her. "You can't leave me! I-I love you!"

Katniss smiles and her eyes flicker open for two more seconds. "Love you too."

Katniss's hand drops from my face.

The canon fires.

I wail and bury my face into her chest. My shoulders are shaking with sobs that wrack up and down my body. My heart feels like it was ripped out my chest. I can't do this. I can't live without her. I can't go home without her at my side.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! I give you the winner of the 74th Annual Hunger Games! Peeta Mellark of District 12!" Claudius Templesmith booms. Now is when they play the applause, but instead all I hear is the sniffles and moans and wails of the people of the Capitol.


End file.
